


My Older Sister

by Oregano_Cactus



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: (ASMR) i try to fix masumi as a character, Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, definitely NOT a relationship fic. izumi is 24, i promise im not a masumi stan. please., liber you enrage me masumi could've been so good, masumi figures some stuff out about his issues, teen for minor swearing, there's a third guy that's present but shhh he's unknown, we could've had it alllll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23139316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oregano_Cactus/pseuds/Oregano_Cactus
Summary: "Izumi opens her mouth, and tells him that she doesn’t want that, and that she thinks Masumi should do it for some other reason, but he doesn’t catch whatever she says because he sees her face disappointed for the first time and his eyes well with tears of—rejection? and he runs off, unable to face those eyes that used to look at him with such pride."Masumi's scarily obsessed with Izumi, and he thinks he's in love with her. After all, why else would she make his heart feel so weird?Loosely following canon, he gets rejected, and runs off. After talking it out, Masumi realizes that he might have made a mistake in interpreting his own feelings. A touching reunion ensues.This is a sort of fix-it fic for Masumi's character! His weird obsession with Izumi is resolved and explained.
Relationships: Tachibana Izumi & Usui Masumi, Usui Masumi & Spring Troupe
Comments: 26
Kudos: 56





	My Older Sister

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for clicking on my fic! I hope you enjoy reading it. 
> 
> I admittedly was a little bit in shock when I realized that I'd spent hours on Masumi, when I normally am not the biggest fan of how he's portrayed in canon, but I really, really, wanted him to be a good character. So, here you go! 
> 
> Italics indicate speaking! 
> 
> ^w^ please leave kudos or a comment if you enjoyed, it truly does make my day!

Masumi first meets Izumi Tachibana when he’s trying to go home, on Veludo Way. 

He’s tired, after a long day of not caring about his lessons and not caring about the girls that fawn over him and not caring about what happens ever. 

She’s a young looking woman that seems to be at somewhat of a loss, and over next to her she spots…Sakuya? He thinks he’s seen that boy around school before. He doesn’t really know. 

She begs for him to join some theater he vaguely remembers from advertisements, pleads basically like her life is going to end if he doesn’t join, and for a second his mind goes completely blank. 

Someone finally wants him, he thinks, and it’s someone who doesn’t know anything about him at all. 

It’s refreshing, almost. She’s completely unaware of what he’s like, what his situation is like ( _although Sakuya is eyeing him like he does, has his reputation preceded him)_ , and he’s inexplicably drawn in by that. 

He assesses her in a second, notes the long hair and the determined eyes and the power in her voice and the sheer _want_ for him to join this theater, and is suddenly struck by—something. He doesn’t really know what. 

He decides it must be love. 

After all, he’s heard his classmates talk a thousand times about love and how it feels, and something that makes him feel this strongly must be the blossoming of romance, right? 

Masumi agrees, and he feels a pang when she smiles at him so proudly like her heart could burst. _I want to please you more_ , he thinks, and follows behind her to what she proclaims is the _“Best theater in the world!”_ , having decided he’s definitely got to be in love. 

— 

They gather more members, over the next couple weeks, and rehearse some weird twist on Romeo and Juliet. He gets to know his troupe members better, learns how to force a college student to sleep, and learns how to play some weird RPG that Itaru teaches him. 

It’s a kind of normalcy that he’s never really had before, and it’s a little refreshing to have people around all the time. 

Not that he really likes Tsuzuru keeping him up at night constantly typing, but he just puts his headphones on and blasts rock music and it usually lulls him to sleep. 

It’s whatever. 

Except, it’s not really whatever, because he’s got the biggest love of his life living with him every single day. 

Izumi Tachibana, she introduces herself as, and Masumi thinks “Tachibana” sounds nice as a surname. Better than “Usui” for sure. 

He tells her as much, and she awkwardly laughs and chastises him as does everyone else around him. 

They always chastise him, he thinks, but they don’t understand. He’s meant to be with Izumi, and that’s that. 

They don’t understand how he feels his heart swell whenever she calls him cool, or naturally talented, or good. 

Masumi’s always been pretty naturally okay at things he puts his mind to, but being in Mankai is the first time that he’s ever been happy he has that talent. 

After all, if it pleases Izumi, then it’s good. 

— 

He follows her around, offers to help her with groceries, tries to talk to her and offers a proposal every couple hours, and is generally obsessed with her. His troupe mates have long since given up trying to make him stop completely, and now only offer a half-hearted _“Masumi-kun”_ before sighing and looking away. 

Izumi never gets quite as comfortable with him as he wants her to be. It’s sad. He asks Spring troupe to come to his school festival, and introduces Izumi as his girlfriend to the teacher, who looks vaguely disturbed and stares at Izumi. He doesn’t get why, since they’re fated to be together anyways. 

( _He completely ignores Izumi’s frantic explanations that no, I’m not his girlfriend, he just has a bit of an unfortunate crush on me, I’m the director for a theater company that he’s in, please don’t mistake my intentions, and also misses the way Spring troupe’s faces crinkle in a mixture of familiar amusement and slight worry. They didn’t fathom, not really, that Masumi would be so far gone as to introduce Izumi to his teacher like that…)_

He actually tries in the festival for the first time, gets a whole bunch of nice medals and when he looks up at the stands during the awards ceremony he sees Izumi cheering him on, face shining with pride, and he feels really really happy. 

This is what true love feels like, he thinks. 

_Pat my head,_ he says after the festival’s over, and Izumi indulges him for once. 

_“You did well, Masumi-kun! We’re all very proud of you, and Citron says he’ll treat you to some sort of dish that none of us could decipher, so let’s hurry up and go home!”_ she says, and Masumi smiles very, very wide. 

_Home,_ he thinks, and feels the smile widen. Izumi had just said _home_. Mankai was their home together. It was basically like they were married already. He was really, really, really in love with her, he thought, because he was getting this happy at the idea that they had a home together. 

He trails after Izumi, smile refusing to drop all the way back. 

— 

It’s one day, when he trails after her to her room, that he tries to confess more explicitly. 

He asks what she thinks of him, and he wants her to be proud of him and like him too so bad. 

She’s perfect, he thinks. 

She’s always determined and smart and pushes forward even though she can’t act really at all, and she’s always so kind to him too. 

He hasn’t forgotten that first day they met, when she begged him to join with nothing but passionate words and a determination that she could do it. 

Masumi doesn’t remember the last time that someone’s paid that much genuine attention to him. 

Well, his parents sure don’t, but he’s accepted that already. It doesn’t matter anymore. 

Sometimes he misses his grandmother. She had always encouraged him to find more interests, and she had cared about him and cheered him on at festivals and ruffled his hair and always made sure to ask what he wanted before they did anything together. 

He doesn’t need his grandmother anymore, though, and he knows he’s too old to still be wanting his grandmother to take care of him like he’s some sort of child. 

It’s whatever. He has Izumi now, and he’s really in love, and she’s perfect. 

She asks him about what he likes all the time, and is really way too considerate, and is always kind to him. Izumi won’t abandon him. 

Izumi’s always kind. She always asks if he wants any curry whenever he catches her heating some up, and she always walks with him to places if he really really says he needs someone to go with him, and she signs all the permission slips that he brings home because his parents aren’t going to be home in time to sign them and he doesn’t want to ask the assistant or whatever because then it’d be like he’s trying to replace his father and he still holds out hope that he’ll come home and spend time with Masumi like they used to. 

That doesn’t matter now, though, ‘cause Izumi’s here. 

He doesn’t wring his hands, because he doesn’t wring, but he does wait nervously as she thinks about her response. 

She taps her chin, and then she says that he’s good, but then she brings up Yuzo-san, and he gets a little annoyed. 

_“I don’t care about that old man. I do this for you,”_ he grouses, and Izumi’s face falls for a second. 

_Fuck,_ he thinks. He did something wrong. 

Izumi opens her mouth, and tells him that she doesn’t want that, and that she thinks Masumi should do it for some other reason, but he doesn’t catch whatever she says because he sees her face disappointed for the first time and his eyes well with tears of—rejection? and he runs off, unable to face those eyes that used to look at him with such pride. 

— 

He runs far, far, far away, and ends up in some district that he doesn’t really know anything about and ends up wandering into a cafe. 

Masumi sits at a table, and puts his head into his hands. 

He’d messed it all up. 

He just wanted—He just wanted Izumi to know how much he loved her, and wanted her to love him back. 

He wanted her to love him like he loved her. 

She was always so nice and so helpful and cared about him and he was in love with her so bad, he wanted her to return his feelings. 

He wanted reassurance that she cared about him too, as much as he did, and that she loved him back, and— 

He buries his head in his arms, and chokes down a sob. 

Masumi’s wallowing in his own misery when he feels a tap on his shoulder, and as he straightens up to shoot whoever it is a glare he sees a young man with blue hair and kind eyes smile at him. 

_“There aren’t any free seats left, do you mind if I share a table with you…? If it won’t be any trouble, of course,”_ the man says, and Masumi jerks his head to indicate yes. 

He sits in sorrow for a little while longer as the other man nervously fiddles with a script he pulls out from his bag, and that’s how they stay until the blue-haired man nods once to himself and opens his mouth to speak. 

_“Excuse me if I’m overstepping, but you seem quite upset…Is there anything I can do to help? I know it’s finals week for everyone at the nearby uni, and I’m somewhat of a tutor so I can try to help,”_ he trails off, and when Masumi doesn’t respond right away he redirects his attention back to the script on the table. _“Excuse me, I should mind my manners more often. I apologize.”_

Masumi considers the offer, and before he knows it he’s opening his mouth and spilling. 

_“I got told by the person I’m in love with that the fact that I’m doing something for her isn’t what she wants, and now she’s disappointed in me, and I don’t know what to do because she looked at me like she didn’t wanna be around me anymore and I ran away here and don’t even have my phone on me and she’s going to be mad at me and—”_

The other man shushes him gently, placing a hand on his to still the shaking. 

_“What are you doing for her, if I may ask, that she didn’t like?”_ he asks. 

_“I’m an actor, and I told her I was acting for her, because I joined because of her, and then she got angry at me,”_ Masumi mutters. 

Blue-haired flinches, minutely, then sighs. _“You shouldn’t pursue something just for the sake of someone else, —?”_

“ _Masumi.”_

 _“—Masumi-kun. She’s your director, right? I can kinda tell from the way you talk about her.”_ Masumi sulkily nods. _“In acting, you’re standing on stage for yourself, not for anyone else, and that’s what matters most. You’ve got to have your own determination and your own strength to perform, it doesn’t matter in the end if you’re doing it for a person because that person isn't going to be up there with you doing it step by step. Someday you’ll split, and—”_

Blue-haired breaks off and coughs lightly. _“Excuse me. I seem to have lost myself.”_ After wiping his mouth with a napkin, he sighs deeply and continues. _“The point is, Masumi-kun, she cares deeply about theater and it probably doesn’t sit right with her that someone she’s trying to nurture into a polished actor isn’t even doing it out of the same love for acting that she’s doing it. She might feel a little guilty, you know.”_

Masumi crinkles his nose. _“But I do like acting. It’s not like I’m a theater buff or anything, but it’s fun to rehearse sometimes and it’s fun to pull stuff off correctly. And being able to be different characters for people is fun too.”_

The other man stifles a laugh. _“See, it’s obvious to me that you care about acting, but it might not be as obvious for her. All she knows is that you’re chasing after her, and you’ve never really expressed how you feel as frankly, probably? You need to tell her that before you decide to tell her about your feelings,”_ he says, and Masumi’s eyes widen. 

“ _Is that all I need to do?”_ Masumi says. 

He frowns, shaking his head lightly. _“No, it isn’t. Feelings are complicated, and I’ve…often found it gets harder with age instead of easier. Since you two are both adults, there’s a certain level of maturity that I’d expect, but—”_

Masumi interrupts him easily. _“I’m not an adult. I’m 16. I go to Hanasaki Academy.”_

The other man’s eyes widen, and he speaks his next words with a measured calm: _“Masumi-kun, how old is this person you’re talking about?”_

Masumi shrugs. _“24. Why?”_

Blue-haired seems at a loss for words, for a second. He finally says, _“You…Masumi-kun, that’s not healthy, you know that?”_

“ _I’m in love with her. What else is there to say?”_

_“She’s 8 years older, and that’s also highly inappropriate for one. Masumi-kun, I don’t mean to try to dictate how you live your life, but I…this…”_

He pauses. _“If you wouldn’t mind, can you describe to me how she makes you feel for just a little bit?”_

Masumi shrugs again. _“Sure. She’s really kind, and nice to me all the time. She always makes sure to save curry for me if I’m out late and she always makes sure to sign all my permission slips if I bring them home, which is nice because I don’t want my father’s assistant to sign them, and my father can’t sign them so. She does them for me. And she comes to my school festivals and cheers me on, and I want to make her proud so I do well then my troupe congratulates me. And she tells me to do well in rehearsal and I wanna make her proud, so I do. And she’s always looking out for me, and she encourages me to do well in school and things like that.”_

He takes a breath and pauses, then begins anew. _“I’m in love with her because she’s always taking care of me, and she always shows that she cares about me. And she’s always there for me. When I first met her, I fell in love instantly because she seemed so genuinely interested in who I could become, and not like all the girls in school. I don’t think anyone’s ever truly made an effort to understand me before, until I met her. And that’s why I’m in love with her. I feel warm and happy when she calls the dorms for the theater company I’m in “our home”, because it feels like she’s made a place where I can belong.”_

After Masumi finishes, he looks down and fiddles with the wire on his headphones, suddenly embarrassed. 

There’s a pregnant pause before the other man starts speaking. 

_“Masumi-kun, I know what I’m about to say may be a little harsh to hear, so I’m warning you in advance.”_ Masumi nods, focusing. _“I don’t think you’re in love with your director.”_

He moves back in shock, nearly tipping off the chair before righting himself. _“I—”_

 _“Sorry, please let me finish speaking and then you can judge me, alright?”_ He nods numbly, letting the man speak. 

“ _I…I have been in love before, truly deeply in love, and I don’t think what you’ve described to me is the kind of love that you think it is. I don’t mean to turn this into a discussion about myself, but one thing about love for me has always been standing together. The person that I…was in love with, we were equals, and that was part of the reason why I was in love. Because we stood together, and were always pushing each other to do better.”_ The other man steeples his fingers. _“You talk about wanting to make your director proud, and you talked about how she makes you feel like someone truly cares about you. Masumi-kun, that sounds more like you look up to her than that you’re in love with her romantically.”_

The man's blue hair catches in the light. _“Excuse me for the question, but do you think you have ever been in love before your director?”_

Masumi shakes his head no. 

_“...That might be why, then. Being in love is something that’s hard to recognize, and…I think you might have confused your feelings, being so young.”_

A pause lingers between them again. 

_“I don’t mean to dictate how you feel at all. However, may I tell you a story about myself one last time?”_

Masumi nods. 

_“I had a friend, who had an older brother. We were so close that he was almost like my older brother, too. And how I felt about him is almost identical to how you tell me you feel about your director. Those feelings of wanting to make someone proud, admiring them for their strength and their worldly wisdom and appreciation of how they make you feel safe and protected…I felt those feelings as strong affection and fondness for someone who I considered family, not as someone who I wanted to romantically involve myself with.”_

Blue-haired shuffles his script again, awkwardly. _“So I don’t…Well, I suppose I feel…”_

Masumi cuts him off, finally moving a little straighter. _“I…don’t really have a family.”_ He watches the other man flinch. _“Sorry. That’s probably a lot. I don’t really care about it, it’s just that they aren’t home that often and when they are, we don’t talk about our feelings. I used to have someone else who kinda cared for me, but I don’t live with her anymore.”_

He sits, and thinks, and sips the tea that had somehow appeared in front of him. 

_Family._

The word sounds foreign to him, really. He’s never considered it to apply to Izumi. 

He lets himself think about his grandmother, for the first time in a while. He lets himself think about how he misses her and how the man sitting across from him has the same kind face as she did and how she always cared for him and made sure he had a home. 

He thinks about how Izumi makes him feel safe, and gives him a home and purpose, and how he wants her to be proud of him. 

In a flash, he realizes that he’s really lonely, and his composure crumbles briefly. 

The other man rubs soothing circles into his hand, as he has a mini-breakdown in a sweets cafe, and Masumi realizes that he’s so incredibly lonely. 

After a couple minutes, he looks up, and tries to pretend like his whole worldview hadn’t just been broken. 

_“...Masumi-kun? Are you alright?”_

He takes a deep breath in. _“I’m not in love with her.”_

Blue-haired’s eyes crinkle at the corners as he quirks a smile, and he says gently, _“What made you come to the realization?”_

“ _I don’t want to marry her or anything. I dunno. I thought I was in love with her because she made my heart do weird things and that’s what all my classmates talked about, but I don’t think I want any of that mushy stuff with her.”_

 _“I’m glad you realized,”_ the other man says. _“What do you think she might mean to you instead?”_

He pauses and thinks for a moment, over what the other man said and what he’s realized. Izumi’s not his grandmother, or his mother. Those have reserved places in his brain and she doesn’t act put-together enough, truly, to be his mother. She’s not his wife, or love, or anything like that. 

Masumi glances over at the man’s face, and realizes the truth with stark clarity as he remembers the man's stories from earlier. 

_“I think…she’s like my older sister.”_

Blue-haired laughs. _“That’s one I don’t hear a lot.”_

“ _She cheers me on and makes me feel like I’m cared for, and I want to make her proud, and I think I still do love her but I don’t think it’s anything like the heart-pounding nervousness all my classmates talk about.”_ Masumi speaks slowly, carefully measuring out his words. _“It just feels familiar, and warm. Like an older sister, maybe.”_

The other man smiles at him, and sweeps his script into his bag. _“I’m glad I could help you come to that realization, Masumi-kun. You should get home though, before anyone else worries, right?”_

_“I don’t have a car.”_

_“Of course, you’re only still a child. We can walk back together, right?”_ Blue-haired stands up and gathers his bag, and before Masumi can protest they’re on Veludo Way and he’s being dropped off at the front door of Mankai. 

He hears the other man mutter something, and when he glances to the side he catches a wistful glance at a GOD-za poster (maybe a fan?) and the distinct sound of paper shuffling as he takes a flyer for Romeo and Julius, but he doesn’t really pay him any mind. 

Izumi opens the door, and her face is filled with worry, and he rushes into her arms as fast he can. 

_“I’m sorry,”_ he mutters into her chest, and she sighs and pats his head. 

“ _What for, Masumi-kun?”_ she responds, and he shakes his head. 

_“For being weird towards you and acting like I was in love with you.”_

He sees her mouth gape open from the corner of his eye, and she says, _“I—Masumi, that means you don’t—”_

The blue-haired man smiles, and says, _“I helped him work through some things tonight, and I think he realized that he might’ve mistaken some of his feelings for feelings of another kind. Either way, Director, I’m sure he has a lot to talk to you about, and I’ll be taking my leave.”_

Izumi stares after the man’s coat, barely processing, as Masumi stands up properly and walks in to the dorms. _“Let’s go, Director,”_ he calls. _“We’ll catch cold otherwise.”_

— 

In the coming days, Masumi and Izumi have a long discussion in the private of her room, and a lot of things change afterwards. 

His troupe mates notice first, of course. 

Tsuzuru gapes as he doesn’t make a move on Izumi during an entire rehearsal for the first time in months, and Itaru tries not to stare as he latches on to her side and she doesn’t bother moving him, and Sakuya subtly tries to intervene as Masumi talks about the culture festival coming up next week to attempt to convince Masumi to leave Izumi behind this year, and Citron congratulates him on a “job rarely cooked,” whatever that means. 

He tells them, eventually. 

He talks in stilted words about not really wanting Izumi as his wife anymore, and he sees nothing in their eyes but relief. 

She still comes to his school festivals, and still signs his forms, and still leaves dinner warming on the stove for him when he comes home late, and does little things like ruffle his hair when he’s done drying his hair after a shower. 

But it’s different now, he thinks. 

Later, at some sort of competition his school is holding, the entire Spring troupe and Izumi tag along, and he grumbles but is mostly glad they’ve come. 

The athletics coach walks up to him and asks, _“Who’s that girl that’s cheering your name?”,_ and he sees Spring troupe instinctively brace for a bit before he smiles, just a little bit, and waves his hand lazily back up to Izumi screaming as loud as she can. 

_“My older sister, sensei,”_ Masumi says, and drops down to ready himself for the 400-meter dash. _“Her name’s Izumi, and she’s a director.”_

“ _Sounds like a talented young woman,”_ the coach says, and readies the whistle. 

_“Yeah,”_ he agrees, swinging his arms into position as he smiles. _“She is.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading! Some extra fun facts as a reward for making it to the end:  
> \- Did you happen to figure out who the man with the blue hair was? I didn't exactly make it difficult to find out, but I thought it'd be a nice touch to have someone you guys already knew show up in the fic ;)  
> \- Masumi's kind of nonchalant about the neglect he's suffered, as a way to compartmentalize, but he definitely isn't over it yet.  
> \- I originally intended to have a callback at the end of the fic to Masumi's line "Tachibana sounded like a better surname than Usui" by incorporating something about siblings sharing the same surname, but there just wasn't quite a good place to fit it. Still, I think it's a cute idea!  
> \- I am so mad about Masumi's character...I wish they'd let him grow out of having a weird obsession with Izumi especially because of that age gap T_T Still, that's what fanfic's for! 
> 
> Thank you again for reading, I really appreciate every person who reads my writing! 
> 
> If you enjoyed, please leave kudos or a comment! They make me so so genuinely happy, and they're what keep me writing. I can promise with extreme certainty that I read and reread every comment that's sent at all, whether they be short or long, and scream over them each and every time. (And here's my explicit shameless begging: Please leave comments/kudos to make your local a3 writer very happy ;D)


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